Snakes & Lions
by DodgerBear
Summary: Harry and Draco are forced to confront their situation and share some startling news with their friends.
1. I’ll Stay

The concrete floor in the dungeon was cold under Harry's bare feet but he couldn't risk wearing shoes and making any noise as he tried to leave. He held them in his hand as he crept down the corridor from the dormitory and stopped just short of the common room, craning his neck to see if the coast was clear. His stomach clenched in fear when he saw Blaise Zabini and Theo Nott playing chess by the quietly crackling fire. They were directly between him and the door that meant he could escape the snake pit. With an internal sigh he changed course and headed back to the dormitory.

Draco was already asleep on his bed. Harry was always amazed, and a touch infuriated, at Draco's ability to fall fast asleep as soon as his head touched his fancy goose feather pillow. He reached out to shake him awake and Draco shot upright in his bed, clashing heads with Harry.

"Ow fuck!" Harry hissed, clutching his nose and trying to see out of his glassy eyes.

"What the fuck? What are you doing?" Draco hissed back at him.

"Can't get out. Zabini and Nott are out there." Harry whispered, glancing around to check the kerfuffle hadn't woken up the other occupants of the room. It hadn't. Crabbe and Goyle were still filling the dormitory with their loud, rumbling snores. The other two beds were empty, belonging to the two boys playing chess in the common room.

Draco sighed heavily. "You'll have to stay until they come to bed."

Harry's eyes widened comically. "I can't stay here! It's already nearly 2am and we've got Potions first thing!"

"Oh I'm sorry Mr Star Potions Pupil. You should've thought about that before you snuck in here to get your rocks off!" Draco snapped.

"You wanted me to come!" Harry argued.

"I did. And now you've _come_ I want you to _go_." Draco retorted with a sarcastic glare.

"You're a real dick at times Draco."

"You complaining about my dick?"

Harry pounced onto the bed and knock the wind out of Draco. They tussled for a moment before Harry ended up under Draco and the blond was pressing all of his weight into Harry. Their cocks brushed together and they were both hard in seconds.

"You just need to stay." Draco mumbled.

"I never stay." Harry reminded him. "Those are the rules."

Draco bit his lip and rolled his erection into Harry's groin. "But this time you do."

"Draco..." Harry's voice was meant to be warning but turned into a gentle groan of pleasure when the Slytherin leaned down to suck on the pulse point in his neck.

"This feels different." Harry managed to say.

"I feel different." Draco licked a strip up Harry's jaw.

"What kind of different?"

Draco sucked Harry's earlobe into his mouth and flicked it with his tongue. "Like I want to say fuck it, stop hiding this thing between us."

Harry pushed Draco back and stared up at him. "The fuck are you talking about? You've been dead against that since day one."

"It's not day one anymore."

"No. It's not. But what...we just admit we've been fucking for the last year? Just like that?"

Draco sighed and rolled to the side of Harry's prone body, staring up at the canopy on his bed. "I've thought about it a lot lately. I assumed when this started that we'd piss each other off almost immediately and end up going back to hating each other. But it hasn't happened. Not for me anyway."

"No. Not for me either. The opposite, in fact." Harry agreed softly.

"My father is in Azkaban, my mother isn't interested in carrying on the pureblood line, that noseless bastard is gone for good. I feel like now we get to be happy."

"I am happy." Harry told him, reaching out to grasp Draco's hand. "You make me happy."

"Same. So perhaps now is the time to be honest and just get on with it?"

Harry fell silent, contemplating the many ways his life could change if he owned up to being in a long term relationship with Draco Malfoy. Hermione would be confused but probably not completely surprised. She'd always noticed the obsessive pull Draco had on Harry. She'd be fully expecting the same in return. Ron would be confused, surprised and furious. Even if he did accept Draco wasn't entirely to be blame for the bad decisions he'd made before that didn't mean he was desperate to have Draco romantically attached to his best mate. Especially when he had earmarked that particular best mate for his sister's future partner. Which brought Harry's mind to Ginny. She'd be thrilled for him. When they dabbled with a relationship they quickly realised they weren't clicking like they should. Ginny being the mature, no nonsense witch that she is had sat them down to talk about it and Harry felt comfortable enough to admit that it wasn't anything she could fix. He wasn't attracted to women like that. Not really. At least, not in the way he was attracted to blokes. Ginny had embraced him warmly and told him not to worry, they would be friends until their dying day and his love life would sort itself out. Harry wasn't sure if she was expecting it to be sorted out by Draco Malfoy, but she didn't hold any real ill feeling towards the blond Slytherin.

"We don't have to. It won't change anything for us." Draco murmured.

Harry turned on his side to face him and smile sweetly in the darkness. "I've wanted to tell our friends for a long time."

"So you'll stay?"

Harry didn't miss the pleading in Draco's voice.

"I'll stay." He confirmed, leaning in to brush his lips against Draco's.


	2. Sleeping Lion

Theo Nott was not a vain young man. He just liked to wake up early before the other occupants of the dormitory could fill the bathroom with their typical teenage disregard for cleanliness. He liked to shower in peace and start his day quietly and calmly. His wand alarm woke him at 6 every morning and he silently slipped out of bed and crept into the shared bathroom. That morning was no different, except when he reached the door he noticed the mop of dark hair sticking out of the covers on Draco's bed. It had been a late night, his competitive nature not allowing him to retire before beating Blaise at chess at least once the night before, so he rubbed his eyes in case tiredness was making him see things that weren't really there. Nope. Definitely messy dark hair. He strained to see more but the covers were high over the face of whoever had taken over Draco's bed. Theo was about to move on and ponder this further as he went about his morning routine, but something else grabbed his attention first. There was a hand sticking out of the covers and hanging towards the floor. And on the little finger of that hand was something very familiar. The Malfoy family signet ring. His first thought was quickly dismissed. There was no chance Draco would ever dye his hair black. Confusion flooded Theo's mind as he raised his wand and mumbled an almost silent incantation that slowly and carefully lifted the bed covers back. He froze in place a second later, his wand shaking in his hand, when he saw the truth behind the mystery. The mop of hair belonged to Harry Potter. The hand belonged the Draco Malfoy. And they were..._spooning_?

Theo very gently lowered the covers back into place so he didn't wake the sleeping pair and padded back to his bed, where he sat down and thought hard about what he had just seen. Was it simply a one night thing? Theo, and indeed Blaise, knew Draco wasn't interested in the female form but it wasn't likely that Harry Potter would be his type. Not after all the years of bitterness and hatred between the young men. And even more so, if it was a one night thing, Draco would never bring the bloke back to the snake pit and risk being seen by the others. So Theo concluded this was more than just a quick fuck. His mind went back to the final battle. When Draco refused to stand by the Dark Lord, even if it was in a slightly muted way that suggested more teenage rebellion than actual political and moral belief. Was that when all this started? The change in Draco after that was clear for all to see. At first he seemed deflated, but actually Theo recognised that he just wanted to live in peace and dropping his cocky, overbearing persona was the first step in that mission. Did Harry prompt the change in him? Questions and theories swirled around in Theo's brain and he was so caught up in it that he didn't realise Blaise had woken up in the bed opposite him.

"You look like you're trying to pass kidney stones the Muggle way. What's wrong?" Blaise murmured sleepily.

Theo jumped in fright and choked on a gasp. When he got his breath back he tilted his head to Draco's bed.

"We have a sleeping lion amongst us."

Blaise frowned. "It's far too early to be so dramatic. What's going on?"

With another swish of his wand, Theo made their conversation private.

"Draco had a guest stay for the night. Harry Potter."

Blaise snorted a laugh. "Fuck off. I'm still asleep aren't I? That's what is happening here."

Theo shook his head, his toffee coloured hair bouncing on his forehead. "I'm serious Blaise. Go and look if you don't believe me. They're spooning for Merlin's sake."

Blaise climbed out of his bed and crept across the room, repeating the exact incantation to lift the covers as Theo just had. His eyebrows rose so high they met his hairline and he stared at the sleeping couple in utter disbelief. He silently returned to his bed and gazed at Theo.

"What the actual fuck is going on here?"

Theo shrugged at his friend. "I have so many questions."

"Like why didn't he tell us?" Blaise frowned.

With a heavy sigh Theo glanced back over to his best friend's bed. "I don't think he would tell anyone. Something must've changed."

"Ugh. He's caught feelings hasn't he?" Blaise shuddered.

Theo chuckled dryly. "I think so."

"So what do we do? Tell him we know? Clear the room before they wake up so they don't feel uncomfortable?" Blaise pondered aloud.

"We just go about our day. Draco brought him here. He must be ready to deal with whatever that brings." Theo stated.

"Yeah." Blaise agreed. "This is crazy."

"After the last couple of years we've had I'm not sure this even makes the top ten." Theo smirked.

Theo went off for his shower and Blaise lay back down for a little longer, closing his eyes and running through all the ways life could change if the world found out Harry Potter was warming Draco Malfoy's bed. It was then that Harry woke up and stretched out his limbs, waking Draco in the process.

"Mmhf." Draco mumbled and reached out to Harry, snuggling up to him and enjoying his warmth.

"Morning." Harry whispered and pressed a kiss to Draco's forehead.

"You stayed."

"I said I would."

"Didn't know if you'd change your mind."

"I didn't. I wouldn't."

Draco sighed softly and relaxed into Harry's hold. "I'm glad."

"How are we going to do this?" Harry asked quietly. "Do you want me to leave before anyone wakes up so you can tell them yourself later?"

Theo appeared in the doorway to the dormitory with a towel around his waist and a smirk on his handsome face. "Bit late for that I'm afraid."

Draco groaned quietly to himself. "Good morning Theo."

"Hello Draco. You seem to have a lion in your bed." Theo grinned broadly.

Harry froze and waited for Draco's response.

"Theo, this is my boyfriend Harry. Harry, this is Theo. He's one of my best friends." Draco spoke softly but with firm authority.

Harry smiled widely and met Theo's eyes. "Hi Theo. Nice to properly meet you."

Theo smiled back. "You too."

Blaise sat up in his bed and looked over to where the action was happening.

"We have so many questions." He said with no preamble.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Thought you might. Any chance we can get ready and go for breakfast before the interrogation begins?"

Blaise smirked and nodded. "I do interrogate better on a full stomach."

"I should get back to the tower." Harry sat up and reached for his glasses. "Hermione will come looking for me if I'm not there."

"She wouldn't think to look for you here." Theo snorted.

Harry thought of Hermione using the Marauder's Map and launching some kind of Gryffindor rescue mission to fetch Harry from the evil clutches of the Slytherin boys around him. "You don't know Hermione."

"No. But I'd like to." Theo winked.

Harry raised his eyebrows. "Oh really?"

"Definitely. I find intelligence very sexy."

"Well this just got more surreal than I was prepared for...and I had mentally prepared to die this morning so that's saying something."

Harry pulled on his clothes from the night before and leaned over to peck a kiss on Draco's lips. "I'll see you in Potions."

"But we have _questions_!" Blaise repeated indignantly.

"Ignore him. He acts like a toddler when he has to wait for anything." Draco told Harry.

Harry smiled across at Blaise. "How about I show some Gryffindor bravery and come back tonight, we can hang out in the common room?"

Theo nodded. "A man with balls, I like that."

"Not as much as Draco." Blaise quipped and earned himself a withering glare from Draco and a loud chuckle from Harry.

Harry left the dormitory before Crabbe and Goyle were even close to waking up. All in all, not a bad coming out experience. Now he just had to face his own group of friends and somehow that scared him more than facing off against Voldemort. But that was a problem for later.


	3. Cardboard Snake

Lessons weren't like they used to be, before the battle. So few had come back after the Hogwarts rebuild that those who should've been long gone and into the phase of their lives were bunched together in one class for every subject. Old rivalries were still there but had somewhat lost their competitive nature. When you'd literally fought for your life, the House Cup lost a little of its edge in the grand scheme of things. When Harry arrived for Potions with Hermione his eyes immediately fell on Draco at his desk near the front of the class. Draco was extremely intelligent but never more so than when he was in Potions. Over the last year they had talked of future plans and dreams, usually in the abstract but sometimes letting real possibilities enter the conversation. Harry was already receiving at least one offer a week from professional Quidditch teams, with ludicrous financial rewards and bonuses available for joining with no need for a try out. It was beyond Harry's comprehension that any sane professional institution would offer such things without at least seeing him play against other professional opponents. But all of that was by the by, Harry's plan was the same now as it had been all along. He was going to go to the Auror academy. Draco, on the other hand, didn't have as many options. The son of a high ranking Death Eater who had made some very questionable choices with this life thus far didn't have the same appeal as the The Boy Who Lived Again. His plan was more strategic. He would use the small amount of money he had left in his name after the reparations were paid to start up his own apothecary and potion making business, paying someone to run the customer facing aspect to allow him to remain anonymous. Harry didn't give too much thought to how their plans may change when they went public. It scared him too much.

"Harry? Are you okay?" Hermione nudged him from the left.

"Hmm? Yeah. Fine." He smiled tightly and moved into his seat so she could pass by and sit down on the other side of him. The class passed quite uneventfully with Draco being awarded house points for his advanced pain relief potion. Harry tingled with pride for his boyfriend before turning a little sad when he thought about the reasons Draco needed to learn that potion in the first place. Lucius fucking Malfoy. If he wasn't rotting in prison Harry wouldn't be able to stop himself from going after the disgusting waste of skin and making him pay for all the ways he hurt Draco.

"He alright?" Ron's voice spoke from nearby and Hermione scoffed.

"He's been in a daydream all morning."

The class was ending and the students were packing up their equipment.

"Hey Harry, me and Neville are playing chess later if you want to join us." Ron told him friend.

Harry smiled regretfully. "I can't, sorry. I have plans."

"Oh? What sort of plans?" Ron looked interested.

Harry blushed. "I...uh..."

"He's coming to hang around with us in our common room Weasley." Blaise cut in with a pleasant smile. "You and Granger are welcome too."

Ron's mouth fell open. "Harry. What's he on about?"

Harry was glowing red and resolutely not meeting Draco's eyes across the room. "He's right. That's what I'm doing. We're hanging out together."

Hermione tilted her head. "Why?"

"Why not?" Theo chipped in with his charming smile.

Harry took a breath. "Because I'm seeing someone in Slytherin."

Draco's eyes widened and he dropped his text book to the floor, swooping to pick it up before anyone could see a blush that rivalled Harry's.

"You're _what_?" Ron wasn't sure he was hearing right.

"Yeah. So that's where I'll be." Harry exhaled and grabbed up his books, giving a pleading look to the heavy wooden door in the hope it would suck him out of the room by the force of his will alone.

It didn't.

Hermione gave a small smile. "Who?"

Harry shook his head. "Not the time. Let's get to Charms."

Ron followed after his friends as they left the classroom, still trying to comprehend Harry's bombshell news. "Please don't tell me it's Parkinson."

"I won't." Harry replied easily.

Hermione tutted at Ron. "Pansy didn't even come back this year."

"Well then who is it?" He spluttered, but Harry was already gone.

Theo appeared behind Hermione and Ron. "So...maybe see you later Granger?"

She looked up at Theo, who was at least six feet tall, and squinted as she assessed his motives. "Alright. But I'll just be doing my Arithmancy homework."

Theo winked. "Didn't doubt it. See you later."

Ron glared at Hermione when they were alone in the corridor. "What are you _doing_? Has the world gone mad?"

Hermione smirked and shrugged. "I think he's cute."

"Ugh." Ron scrunched his face up in disgust. "Sometimes I wish we were the awkward kind of exes that can't stand to talk about the people we find cute. This is one of them."

Hermione giggled and patted his cheek. "Oh Ron you're sweet. Come on. I haven't suddenly developed an immunity to being late."

The Slytherin common room was almost empty when Harry found his way there after dinner. Draco, Theo and Blaise were always going to return to Hogwarts. Crabbe and Goyle did so to avoid making a decision about their future for one more year. Both of their fathers were in Azkaban and their mothers were learning to deal with being the outcast social lepers they'd become overnight. Only one female Slytherin returned so she asked to room with the Ravenclaw girls, becoming very good friends with Luna.

"Hello Harry." Theo greeted with a beaming grin.

The Gryffindor tugged on the sleeve of his black sweater anxiously. "Hi Theo."

Draco appeared in the doorway wearing his school uniform and smiled shyly. "You came."

Harry smiled back. "Course I did."

"Are you two going to start snogging?" Theo smirked.

"Not in front of you." Harry retorted.

Draco nodded to the dormitory. "I was just going to get changed..."

Harry didn't need more of an invitation and followed his boyfriend down the hallway.

"Oof." Harry grunted when he was shoved against the cold stone wall beside Draco's bed. The blond was on him immediately, kissing him deeply and pawing at Harry's upper body.

"Mmhf fuck Draco..."

Draco took this to be encouragement and pressed his whole body against Harry's, grinding on him as this tongue danced a tango in his mouth.

"Drake...fuck...gotta stop..."

"Why? Wanted to do this all day." Draco lowered his face into Harry's neck and nibbled in the soft skin behind his ear.

"Because Blaise is staring at us."

Draco froze for a second before moving back and turning to the middle of the room. Sure enough, there was Blaise with a huge smirk on his face.

"I just came to get my homework. I wasn't expecting a show."

"Fuck sake Blaise. Fuck off." Draco hissed.

Blaise shrugged. "You need to relax Draco."

When they were alone Harry smiled and pulled Draco into a hug. "He's just messing with you. That's what friends do. Come on, get changed and let's get out there."

Draco pouted. "Fine."

Theo and Blaise started up where they left off with their chess game the night before. Draco and Harry started on their homework. It was peaceful and calm.

"I'm hungry." Draco stated when they'd been working for half an hour.

Harry prodded his boyfriend in the side. "You just had dinner."

"And now I'm hungry again." Draco prodded him back.

They tussled on the sofa until Harry stilled Draco with a searing kiss. Just then the heavy common room door swung open to reveal Hermione, Ron and Ginny on the other side.

"Well...talk about comedy timing." Blaise grinned. "Welcome Gryffindors!"

Draco shoved Harry off him so hard he fell off the sofa and onto the hard stone floor.

"Ow! What the fuck Draco?" He yelled angrily as he rubbed his grazed elbow.

The blond was rooted to the spot, staring at the newcomers in horrified silence. If he thought they were going to murder him he was very much mistaken. None of them could form a sentence, let alone cast an Unforgivable.

"Hi." Harry waved at his friends from his spot on the floor. "Come on in. You know Theo, Blaise and Draco."

Ginny broke first, bursting into loud giggles that made her eyes sparkle. "Oh Harry! You're amazing."

"Thanks." He replied with a frown. "I think."

"How long have you been keeping this a secret?" She asked, bouncing in to help him to his feet.

"A while. Wasn't sure what it was or where it was going." Harry sighed.

"And now?" Hermione grinned.

"Now it's...more. It's...something." He smiled shyly.

"No." Ron shook his head. "No. No. No."

Ginny met the assessing glance of Blaise and she rolled her eyes. "I'm not sure my brother grasps that he's not in charge of Harry's love life."

"But..._him_?" Ron spluttered and pointed at the statue of Draco Malfoy on the sofa.

"Yes, _him_!" Harry scolded his friend. "If you're just going to cause trouble you can leave us alone."

Ron looked at Hermione and then Ginny. "You're okay with this?"

Hermione beamed at Harry. "Of course. Look at him, he's happy."

Ginny nodded along. "He's positively glowing."

Harry shot Draco a dark look. "That's probably the broken elbow actually."

Theo clapped his hands. "So now we're all in the loop, any chance we can move this along and close the door? These dungeons aren't very energy efficient."

Hermione glanced Ron. "Staying or going?"

Ron exhaled a deep breath but Blaise cut in before he could speak.

"He's staying. Potter tells us he's something of a chess genius. I want to see his skills."

Ron glared at the Slytherin. "Fine."

"Excellent." Harry smiled triumphantly and closed the door. "Draco and I are doing homework..."

Ginny smirked wickedly. "I've never seen homework done like _that_ before."

"Oh Red, you're really missing out." Blaise grinned.

Theo gestured to the desk by the window and addressed Hermione. "Care to join me?"

Hermione had never turned down an opportunity to study. She wasn't about to start now.

Harry sensed Draco was uptight but hoped he'd relax once everyone was settled into their activities. He reached over and ran his hand down the back of Draco's neck, teasing the baby fine hairs. Draco flinched and pulled away.

"What's going on?" Harry was confused.

"Not when we have company!"

Harry glanced around room and found nobody was paying any attention to them.

"Are you joking? What was the point in coming out if you're going to act like I'm not here in front of my friends?"

Draco huffed a sigh. "Just get on with your homework."

"No. I want to know what all that crap about being ready to go public was all about when you've gone completely cold on me and haven't spoken a single word to my friends since they got here!" Harry snapped.

Draco got to his feet and moved down the hallway so they were a few feet away from their friends. Harry followed with an angry scowl on his face.

"I am ready for them to know about us!" Draco hissed.

"Then why don't you just act normally? I wasn't aware my boyfriend had turned into a cardboard cutout since dinner time!"

Harry's nonchalant attitude was starting to piss Draco off.

"Act normally?" He repeated furiously. "By now we've normally got our tongues down each other's throats and our hands down each other's pants! I can't exactly act normally _now_ can I?"

A gentle cough permeated their angry silence and Ginny's voice spoke up.

"They do know we can hear every word they're saying, don't they?"

Blaise chuckled. "I really couldn't begin to guess what goes through their minds!"

"Draco, I know this is really weird for you but you don't have to worry about it. It's all fine. I mean, Ron is only just starting to realise what Harry meant when he said he was bisexual all those years ago but he's going to be fine. He's playing chess with Blaise and nobody has thrown about any curses. I'm doing my homework with someone who isn't going to copy my work, which is the first time in many years I can say that. It's all going to be _fine_." Hermione spoke up, gently but leaving no room for argument.

Ginny nodded and pointed down towards the dormitory. "So go through there, get it out of your system then come back out here and tell us all about how this started. Blaise is practically vibrating with impatience."

Draco blushed and glanced at Harry, giving him an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. This is just very new for me."

Harry cupped Draco's cheek in his hand and drew him into a gentle, chaste kiss. "I know. But they're right. We have to find a new normal. One that doesn't involved sneaking into empty classrooms in the middle of the night...ideally."

Draco nodded and took Harry's hand, leading him towards the dormitory. With a confident wave of his hand he called out to their friends. "We'll be back in ten minutes."

"Maybe twenty." Harry added.

Blaise snickered loudly as they slammed the door closed. "Potter is seriously overestimating."

Ron swallowed the dismay he was feeling and gestured to the board. "Your move."

And just like that, it was the new normal. Theo and Hermione working together, debating theories and challenging each other in ways Hermione didn't know was possible. Ginny reading her Muggles books and keeping track of everything around her, chipping in with inappropriate jokes to rival Blaise on his best day. It was an eye opener for the older Slytherin and for the first time in his school career he was wildly attracted to a Gryffindor. First though, he'd work on winning over her brother.

"The new normal, eh?" Ron sighed. "I suppose this year was always going to mean big changes."

"Yeah. And it's so nice to see Harry happy like this." Ginny said, breaking into a huge smile when the common room filled with sounds from Draco and Harry through the door that _really_ brought home their new romantic situation. "But maybe we can ask them to silence the room next time."


End file.
